Newsletter September 2016

Saturday, September 3, 2016

Hi,

Sorry there’s been a bit of delay since the last newsletter but this one’s a doozy - I’ve been saving some great psychology resources for you. Remember, if you no longer want to receive these newsletters it’s easy to unsubscribe, but maybe stick around for the links and materials below first...

DIZZINESS SPECIAL

My colleague Debbie Cane (a balance specialist) and I have recently published a CBT model of persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD) in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. PPPD is a common form of chronic dizziness which is often precipitated by a transient disorder of the inner ear, but which is maintained by psychological factors. Drawing upon the essential insights of a number of other authors in the field we have put together a CBT model which we think explains the mechanisms maintaining chronic dizziness. The paper contains lots of information about the physiology of dizziness which will be of interest to practitioners working with dizzy patients. I have also put together a collection of other useful resources to accompany the article:

PSYCHOLOGY TOOLS NEWS

New worksheet "Before I Blame Myself And Feel Guilty"
Before I blame myself and feel guilty is a checklist detailing the cognitive distortions which result in post-traumatic guilt. Based upon the fantastic work of Edward Kubany It can be used to identify troublesome cognitions help by traumatized clients and to guide a conversation around post-traumatic guilt.

New worksheet "Coercive Methods For Enforcing Compliance"
In 1956 Albert Biderman published research exploring methods used by captors to enforce compliance in prisoners of war. His framework is still useful today in understanding methods of coercive control used by abusers. Coercive methods for enforcing compliance is a checklist that allows clients to see what methods of control they were subject to. These can be used as helpful starting points for therapeutic conversations.

PSYCHOLOGY ARTICLES ON THE WEB

Super podcast on NPR about the stability of personality. I had heard of Walter Mischel before, but hadn’t known any details about his theory of personality. What is interesting is that his explanation of the marshmallow test is so at odds with the dominant contemporary interpretation of gratification delay as being predictive of later success. A quote from the podcast: “Mischel would give a small child a marshmallow, a cookie or a pretzel, telling her or him that they could eat it now — or if they could wait for a few minutes, they'd get two marshmallows or cookies. Then he left the room. Given that the children in the study were 4 to 6 years old, the marshmallow often got gobbled up. But sometimes Mischel told the child ahead of time that she could just pretend that the marshmallow was not really there. Then "the same child waits 15 minutes," he says now. "It's a very small change that's been made in how the child is representing the object — is it real or is it a picture? And by changing the representation, you dramatically change her behavior." The vast majority of children in Mischel's study were able to delay gratification when they reframed their interpretations of the situation in front of them.”

A great large-scale study (N=440) directly comparing behavioural activation (BA) to CBT for the treatment of depression has been published. They found that the effect sizes for BA were not inferior to those for CBT (i.e. were equivalent), and that BA was more cost-effective (21% cheaper). Lots of technical detail in the paper, and they argue that BA should be considered a front-line treatment for depression.

And with that I'll finish for this time. If you like Psychology Tools please consider supporting it by buying the book or audio.

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